Creede, Colorado Discoveries

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June 15th 2008

Published: June 26th 2008

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Coconuts

Lake San Cristobal

Namesake of Lake City, Colorado

Creede Elevation 8,862; Mineral County Population ~ 900

We arrived in Creede June 1st to clear blue skies, with chilly daytime temperatures and overnight freezing. Since much of the country was sweltering or being flooded, we didn’t complain too much. The weather did warm up nicely during the month.

Creede is an old silver mining town whose heyday was the late 1800’s. Quite a few colorful Western characters spent time here over the years. Silver was mined until the mid 1970’s, and a mining company plans new exploration this year. Evidence of old abandoned silver mines remain in the hills around town, and a popular driving tour has mileposts marking historical mining locations. There is not even one traffic light in town, and the pace of life is relaxed and definitely Western!

Creede has a very good 43-year-old repertory theater, whose professional performers come from all over the country. We attended 2 plays; each was very good and packed the house. It was refreshing to park right down the street and walk less than half a block to the small theater.

Lots of dude ranches as well as fishing and hunting camps are located in this beautiful

Rio Grande Headwaters

Lots of high-mountain streams and lakes form the headwaters of the 3rd longest river in the United States

area of Southwestern Colorado on the Continental Divide. There are many high mountain peaks (14,000+ feet), lakes, deep canyons, streams, and plentiful wildlife. This area had huge amounts of mountain snow (400 to 500 inches), which was still evident in late June, and it fed the Rio Grande River to capacity.

We took drives on many unpaved Forest Service roads throughout the area and marveled at the spectacular scenery. We spotted quite a few elk, a couple dozen big-horn sheep, and a couple of moose. The moose were a bit elusive; the ones we spotted were from a high overlook looking down into a boggy area by a stream.

We also took day trips to Durango, Lake City, Gunnison and Crested Butte. Durango, an old Western town, had a great Texas BBQ restaurant; Lake City, named after beautiful Lake San Cristobal, is a sportsmen’s paradise and is surrounded by high mountains; Gunnison is a small college town; and Crested Butte, famous as a ski town, is located in a gorgeous green valley surrounded by mountains with ski-runs and lots of high-end homes and condos. Plenty of huge homes were under construction, and there was no obvious evidence of